Visiting the Philippines & Extension of Stay

If your friend(s), partner or yourself is planning to visit & experience the Philippines: Mabuhay!!! Bonus to those who are coming from the Europe Union, USA or countries such as Japan, Canada, Saudi Arabia and the likes -- great news & you do not need to apply for visa if you are staying for 21 days or less. That's right! You don't need to get a visa!

Just bring your travel passport with you & upon reaching the Philippines, the Immigration Officer will give you a Visa-upon-Arrival by stamping on it. This is good for 21 days. So cool, huh? But maybe you would want to know: what to do if you wanted to stay longer than 21 days? where to go?

You can go to the Bureau of Immigration offices to apply for an extension good for another 38 days.  The good news is that their offices are not limited to Metro Manila only & they have a list of subport offices that is nationwide!

You just need to bring the following:

1. Passport
-- Photocopy the information page (where your picture is located) & the last arrival stamp page.

2. Fee amounting to 3,030php
-- This is a "one-pay-fits-all" thing. Irregardless if you use up the entire 38 days or not, this is the standard amount to pay. On our case, my husband only used up 2 days out of the 38 days extension time.

The Alien Control Officer will stamp & signed your passport & will give you a receipt. It is important that you bring the receipt with you when you are about to leave the Philippines to avoid paying further fines/penalties. You can also visit The Bureau of Immigration of the Philippines official website for further information.

So yes, enjoy your stay here. Its more fun in the Philippines!***

*** Current slogan of the Philippine to boost tourism.


UPDATE:
Good news & instead of the ''21 days'' allowable stay in the Philippines without a visa, they now extend this for 30 days! You just need to make sure that your friend have: (1) valid tickets for their return journey to port of origin or to the next port of destination, and (2) passport valid for 6 months beyond the contemplated period of stay in the Philippines. Happy planning!!!

My Visa Approval

My apologies for the delay of posting & I was stunned at the wonderful news (still am actually). I was contacted by the German Embassy Manila, Visa division via e-mail. They instruct me to send my passport, date-of-arrival to Germany & an option on how to send my passport to their office for the visa printing. I have not done any of those yet as my husband & I are still planning on our trip. I will write another post regarding how I send mine.

My visa was approved within a month since I applied & had my interview at the embassy. My husband did not follow up the Alien office at all as on the letter they send him, it was written that they prefer you do not make any follow up. Well, yes, you can but then you just get to hamper their work by needing to explain things for you and so on. They did send my husband a letter explaining that they have already "decided" on my case & have send back my documents to the German Embassy in Manila. However, due to their policies, they cannot reveal their answer: if yes or no. Simply put that not necessary mean they send their approval that the Embassy in Manila will no longer ask for additional documents. Yes, this do happens in certain cases.

In my case, I would consider myself lucky as there were no additional documents that were ask of me, nor did I undergo any "document checking". Most cases that I learn from my acquaintances that they were required for document checking: Some were already asked of this when their husband were getting their Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage document. While the others were ask of this after applying for their visas. I would think it is best to assume still that everyone is required to have their documents checked, so not to raise false hope.

Wishing the people who are waiting for their visas good luck & a speedy process.

And for those who are jumping in joy in learning their visas are already approved... Congratulation!!! Happy planning!

Visa Fee Waive-able: True or False?

Good news to those who married in the Philippines with their German spouse and is now applying for a Family Reunion Visa: It's confirmed! The visa fee of 60 euro equivalent (roughly around 3,500php + depending on the current exchange rate) will be waived. Yes, they will not ask you to pay this anymore. This is our privilege being married to a German national. Isn't that cool?

First week after the Interview

It's such a big question mark in our head what exactly happen after your interview in the German Embassy. What to do and what to expect?

Our documents are being send by batch to Germany. Expect it to arrive there (the city where you are planning to reside soon) in 2 weeks. On the first week, the Alien Office of your German partner will send them a letter informing them of your visa application and will be asking in turn some of their documents. They will be given around 2 weeks deadline to complete and submit the documents. Per my husband, there is nothing extraordinary from their request, so there is nothing to worry about. My husband did ask me to send him a scanned copy of our Marriage License & CEMAR (Certificate of Marriage). It was a good thing I had a copy with me.

This is all for now. I will keep you guys posted. Good luck!

Interview at the German Embassy Manila

There are 2 German Embassy in the Philippines: One in Cebu while the other one in Manila specifically in Makati City. And from time to time, the good Consul have appointment trips to Davao. However, all visa transactions are redirected to the main office which is in Manila.

So, after your Visa Appointment experience, the other things you need to do are:
-- plan/schedule your trip to the Embassy carefully.
-- book your plane ticket (if applicable)
-- book your accommodation (if applicable)
-- photocopy your documents as instructed from the website.

Here are some pointers that you might find useful:

1. Appointment time
-- Do not underestimate the traffic of Manila.
-- Do not be late or they will forfeit your appointment and will advise you to call the call center to set for another appointment.
-- They will only allow you to enter the German Embassy if you are there before 30 minutes but not more than your appointment time. If you are too early, they will ask you to come back later as no loitering allowed in that floor. But hey, better already in that building than stuck somewhere else in traffic.

2. Complete documents please
-- You read it on their website, heard it from your friends and they are all true: they will only accept/process your documents if they are complete. I did not see any photocopier during my trip there, so please, have them photocopied before hand as specified in their website.
-- Organize your documents in a plastic envelope or folder as they will ask to leave your other stuffs behind.
-- If you have questions, you can write it down and ask the representative about it after the interview.

3. You represent yourself
-- You cannot bring your friends or family with you inside the 25th floor of the RCBC building. There is a smoking area which doubled as a waiting area which they can go to at the ground floor. Unfortunately, there was no other option that I saw during my trip there.
-- Their representatives are fluent in German, English and Tagalog. So, be yourself and choose the language where you are most comfortable with.

4. Items beware
-- They do not allow cellphone into the Embassy. They do have a locker where you can leave it behind.
-- Do bring a pen with you for additional things you might need to sign.

You have nothing to worry about regarding questions to be ask as they are basic questions about you and your partner. They will inform you what is the next step, what to expect and what to do. So, breath easy!

Hope it helps! Good luck!!!

Visa Appointment

After getting your NSO certificates, your passport and other documents as required from the German Embassy, you are now ready to make an appointment. The procedure is actually listed in the website but allow me to impart my own experience.

The website wrote that they starts at 8am. I tried dialing at 7:30am and a voice mail answered me saying that no operator is available and gave their working time. I called back 3 minutes before 8am and was thrilled that the phone rang normal and no more voice mail. I was most relief that the lady behind the call can speaks Filipino. She ask me basic information similar to the application form that the Embassy will be requiring us to answer. Over all, the total bills that I needed to foot for this transaction cost me around 850php. 

My tips to save up time (and money) are:

1. Have all the documents being requested from you nearby.

-- These are your completely filled up application form, passport and the likes.

2. Have a calendar or your planner near by. 

-- This is so you can quickly check which day would your appointment land on. In case you have preferred dates for your appointment, they can check on this too but is subjected to availability.

3. Have an International phonetic alphabet list near by.

-- Just in case you have a mental block that A for Alpha, Q for Quebec or Y for Yankee ... this will save you time. Sometimes, to make sure that your name or address (or other information) are correctly spelled, you will be ask to spell it in this manner.

4. Call the Call center few minutes before starting time of work but never too early.
-- Remember what happen to me and a voice mail answered my first call? Yes, you guess it: I got charged for that. 

5. If your line got cut, do not panic!
-- Yes, this happen to me too. Mid way of our conversation, my line got cut!!! I was using a post paid cellphone sim when calling them up and can only guess that something went wrong with the signal. I simply dial again. This time I was on waiting line. I waited on until someone answered. I quickly explain that my line was cut, she just ask what's my name and went to search on their computer. Then, we continue where we left off. So, its not back to zero. 

6. Have a pen and a paper near by.

-- For your reference, they will give your unique code of your profile. You will be ask to list this down.

7. List down your questions.

-- If you have questions that is not answered by the Embassy's website, you can ask the call center representative. They will answer as much as they can and will tell you if its beyond their knowledge.

Hope it helps! A belated Happy New Year!!!

NSO Marriage License Waiting Time

As promised, here is my update:

It is only today that I got the chance to go to our NSO to check if my marriage license is already online or not. And indeed, it is already available! Yippeeee! Today is the 31st day since we went to file/register our marriage license. I truly feel relived!

The fee I paid are:
NSO Marriage Certificate -- 140php/each
NSO CEMAR -- 195php/each

The NSO Marriage Certificate is a scanned copy of your Marriage Certificate which you have submitted for registration. This is printed on a security paper (SECPA) colored yellow. On the other hand, CEMAR (also a Certificate of Marriage) is a certification letter by the NSO stating that your records are found in their system. This is also printed in SECPA colored yellow. To get the CEMAR, I filled up a form for a CENOMAR (Certificate of No Marriage) and submitted this. Once they see in their system that you are married, they automatically print you a CEMAR.

This is all for now. Good luck with yours and hope its not a long wait too!